A move. Amber Heard’s house was on the market after reports that the Aquaman actress is broke. The Yuca Valley home sold for more than what Amber paid for in 2019.
The sale was first reported by TMZ when records obtained from Zillow showed that the property that belonged to Amber sold for nearly $1.1 million. Amber paid $570,000 for the Mojave Desert house in the early days of 2019. It sold for $1,050,000, with a closing date of July 18. The house was purchased in 2019 through an anonymous trust that reportedly is tied to Amber. According to The New York Post, New Jersey-based Rickard and Carol-Jeanette Jorgenson, who also own property in Nevada and are founders of Jorgensen & Company LLC, are the new owners.
The house sale comes directly after her trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp. The jury ordered Amber to pay Johnny $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages for a total of $15 million. Due to the cap on punitive damages under Virginia state law, Judge Penney Azcarate reduced Heard’s punitive damages from $5 million to $350,000. Johnny, for his part, was found guilty of one count of defamation against Heard by the jury and was ordered to pay her $2 million in compensatory damages and zero dollars in punitive damages for a total of $2 million. If Heard and Depp’s damages are netted against each other, Heard will have to pay Depp a total of $8.35 million in damages, accounting for the $2 million in compensatory damages he owes her.
Heard’s lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft, told Today on June 2, 2022, that her client can “absolutely not” afford to pay Depp the $10.35 million she owes Depp in damages. “Oh no. Absolutely not, “Bredehoft said when asked if Heard has the money to afford Depp’s damages.
A source told The New York Post at the time that Heard is “broke” due to legal fees and her past lavish spending on travel, clothes, gifts and wine. The newspaper also reported that Heard had to change legal representation during the trial and is using her homeowner’s insurance from the insurance firm The Travelers Companies to cover the cost of her current attorneys. Pamela Johnson, the vice president of The Travelers Companies, has also been seen with Heard in court in Fairfax, Virginia, multiple times since the trial started in April 2022. Heather Heidelbaugh, a Pennsylvania-based trial attorney, told The New York Post that it’s not uncommon for defendants to use homeowner’s insurance policies in defamation cases. “It’s a little oddity that most people don’t know. In most homeowner insurance policies, there is coverage if you are sued for defamation based on how much you pay through coverage, ”she said.
Depp won the defamation trial on June 1, 2022, after he sued Heard for $50 million. The trial was held due to an op-ed Heard wrote in The Washington Post in 2018 about her experiences with domestic abuse. Like Depps’s songs, no names were mentioned in the op-ed. However, many people speculated the article to be about her marriage to Depp. Depp claimed that the op-ed cost him his acting jobs.
Heard and her lawyers tried to make a case for a mistrial due to a juror mishap. According to documents obtained by People, the lawyers state that “based on newly discovered facts and information that Juror No. 15 was not the individual summoned for jury duty on April 11, 2022.” They also attempted to throw away the verdict altogether where they claim that Depp’s compensatory award was “excessive” and “indefensible.” However, the judge denied the mistrial.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233) for confidential support.